What Lies Beyond The Outer Rim
by Coat-Rack96
Summary: The Clone Wars are tearing the galaxy apart. In a stunning move, the Separatist Leader, General Grievous has kidnapped the Supreme Chancellor. Two Jedi lead a desperate rescue mission, while a third pursues a cruiser beyond the outer rim, to a land plunged into an icy curse. Takes place during ROTS and post-Frozen. Rated T for violence, subject to change.
1. The White Knights

**AN: Hello! This is Coat-Rack96, I'm just trying my luck on a Star Wars/Frozen Crossover. Like in my other story, I will be writing with a non-canon character as the main. In this case, it's a Nautilan Jedi. And for those of you who don't know, a Nautilan is the species of Kit Fisto. He makes several brief appearances in AOTC and ROTS.**

**I love Star Wars, and I really like Frozen, and wanted to make a crossover story of the two. Please read, give me a review on how I did, message me with any suggestions/questions/comments, things like that. Also, if I could get names for some of the clones, that would be great too.**

**I hope you like this story. I appreciate the support you've given me in the past, and hope I can continue to deliver.**

**Disclaimer: I do not own Star Wars or Frozen.**

"Master Windu, you have fought gallantly. Worthy of recognition in the archives of the Jedi. Surrender, and your lives will be spared."

Mace Windu looked up to the former Jedi, his robe cast aside, purple lightsaber humming in his hand. He didn't need to ask the circle of remaining Jedi for their opinion. He could feel it, our determination, our will to go on, to never surrender to the scum on the balcony above us. _Everyone's thinking it, he's just saying it_, I thought as I glanced from Windu to Dooku.

"We will not be hostages to be bartered, Dooku!" the master declared.

"Then, I'm sorry old friend," Dooku said, almost mournfully.

_As if he'd mourn our loss_, I thought as the army of droids raised their weapons again, ready to resume the slaughter. Almost two hundred Jedi had entered the arena on this rescue mission. Now only twenty were left. _Looks like the rescue team needs a rescue_, my master had laughed darkly. Now her smoking corpse lay about a yard in front of me, peppered with burns from blaster bolts. And the rest of us would be joining her soon. _There is no death… there is the Force_

Her lightsaber lay on the ground, rolled out of her red hands. _This weapon is your life,_ she had told me. And now she had lost hers.

I licked my lips and adjusted my grip on my own lightsaber. It had almost slipped from my blue hands twice already. I wasn't taking that chance again. I would take down as many of these droids as I could, and damn the gushing wound on my right arm from the acklay.

The Geonosian sun glared into my black eyes. I blinked, clearing the dust out of them. But I had no need to. The Force would guide my lightsaber until I fell.

I glanced around to the other Jedi, most of whom were masters or knights, only two of us were padawans, myself and Skywalker. And there was Senator Padme Amidala from Naboo, holding a droid blaster in her hands, her back covered in blood from three brutal cuts from the Nexu. I didn't need to reach out with the Force to know how they were feeling. The tendrils on the back of my head felt the pheromones wafting from them. Fear, but for the group around them. And… something different… from both Skywalker and Amidala. It was more than just the attachment that I so often felt between master and apprentice.

Master Kit Fisto noticed the anamoly as well, but his face didn't show it. We were the same species, Nautilan, natives of Glee Anselm. His face only showed the determination to go on.

All of a sudden, Senator Amidala looked into the sky. "Look!" she cried as gunships descended into the arena.

"Who-" I started, but instantly was drawn back to the battle as droids began firing at us. I began blocking bolts, my green lightsaber forming a defensive arc around me.

The gunships rained a firey green hell onto the droid army, reducing the intimidating mass of machines to scraps and puddles of oil. Men in white armor jumped out as the ships landed, covering us as we boarded. One grabbed me by my tunic and hauled me in, barking, "Get on, sir!" as he practically threw me in. More soldiers inside grabbed me and pulled me in, repeating his order.

"Wait!" I shouted, and called my master's lightsaber to me. The silver handle flew from the ground and into my outstretched hand. I hung it from the right side of my belt.

"Help the others on!" a soldier yelled, shouldering his blaster and firing at the few remaining battle droids.

I grabbed two blue hands, hauling twi'lek Master Aayla Secura on board, and after her, Adi Gallia.

"Who the hell are you?" I shouted over the roar of the engines as we lifted into the air. I looked around. I was surrounded by the soldiers, all in identical armor, the only familiar faces were those of the two masters. "Where's Master Windu?" I shouted.

"He got on to one of the other ships!" Master Secura replied as the ship rose above the edge of the arena.

Flak from AA cannons exploded all around us. The pilots banked to the right, turning and flying around a rocky spire.

"Hang on!" one of the soldiers shouted.

Holding on to the netting above us, I leaned out the open side door. A huge army of these white knights was attacking an equally huge army of droids, no doubt under control of the Seperatists.

Two missiles fired from the ship as we neared, temporarily deafening me. I followed their trail until they struck a Techno Union ship on the plain, just above the fuel cells, destroying it.

"Pilot! Take us down in the assembly area!" Master Gallia shouted.

"Yes sir," the pilot's voice came over the com. _Identical to everyone else we've heard! What is it with these guys… and who are they?_ I didn't need to be confused, not now, not as this battle was raging.

The ship lowered down into the mass of the white men. Master Secura and Master Gallia leaped out, followed by the soldiers. "Stay on the ship, Padawan!" Master Secura yelled.

"But-" I stammered.

"Stay on the ship! You two, stay with him!" two soldiers ran back on unquestioningly. "Take him away from the battle!" Master Secura finished, activating her blue lightsaber and leading the soldiers toward the droids, deflecting lasers as she went."

"It's alright sir, we want to be down there too," one soldier said, placing his hand on my shoulder as the gunship lifted up and began streaking away from the battle.

"They've got a lock on us!" the pilot's voice rang out again. "Hang on!"

The gunship banked sharply to the left, one of the soldiers almost falling out. My hand shot out, catching him just before he flew out the door and to his death. "Thanks," he said, bracing himself against one of the walls.

"Countermeasures failing! Brace for impact!" the pilot shouted.

"Oh you've got to be ki-" the soldier who'd almost fallen out yelled as the missile struck the back of the ship.

"Hold on!" the other soldier shouted as the gunship plummeted from the sky. I dangled precariously close to the right door, almost outside of the craft. "Get back in here!" he shouted.

"Doing all I ca-" the ship smashed into the sand, knocking us loose and throwing us forward with the momentum. My legs dangled outside of the ship, and my last thought before my head hit the front of the cabin was of the searing pain in my left leg.


	2. Visions

Visions danced through my head like a Hutt's slave girl. These, however, were not nearly as attractive.

_A redheaded girl hurried up to two people, royalty or nobles of some sort judging by their clothing. A man and woman. She hugged the two tightly as they finished packing several bags._

_Another young woman (this one blonde) curtsied before the two, in a separate chamber, the redhead nowhere in sight. It was clear that she wanted to do so much more, but held back. Her face was pleading, almost desperate, for them not to leave. Both girls were nearly identical to the woman, save for their hair color._

_The two nobles boarded a wooden, three-spired boat. The second woman, the sad blonde, watched through a triangular window, ice forming at her hands._

_Wait, what?_

The vision ended, and a new one came to me.

_The boat was getting tossed back and forth by gargantuan waves. Lightning flashed through the sky, rain poured down. One wave knocked the ship sideways, and a mountain of water rose up, crashing down onto the boat with enough force to drop a rancor. The ship capsized, and was lost to the sea._

_The redhead stood between two large stones, weeping. A small crowd had gathered for the funeral, sharing in the girl's tears._

_The redhead walked dejectedly through their castle, stopping at a blue and white door. She knocked, before starting to sing. She turned and slid hopelessly down the door, leaning her head against it, fighting back the tears._

_The blonde sat inside the room, her head in a similar position. She gave in, and buried her head in her arms. A layer of frost covered the entire room, and snowflakes hung frozen in mid-air._

_Was she Force Sensitive? How was she able to control the elements like that?_

The last thing I remember was my master's voice, soothing me from the shock of what I'd just seen."The Force works in mysterious ways, my young Padawan, ways that you cannot yet comprehend. But you will. In time, you will."

Gasping, I woke up in the bed of a medbay. A 2-1B medical droid looked over me. Sweat beaded on my bare chest. My left leg burned just below the knee. "Ah, sir! You're awake. Please lay back down, I'll inform Master Secura immediately," The droid said.

"Where-?" I croaked my throat as dry as the desert I had crashed in.

"She'll explain everything sir," the droid said, and hurried off.

I looked around, trying to figure out just where the hell I was. _I was in a crash… survived… master?_ I squeezed my eyes shut, holding back the tears. _She's gone._ I had been too distracted by the battle, but now, the weight of her death fully sank in. Tears gushed forth from the corners of my black eyes. _There is no death; there is the Force_, her words echoed in my head.

The burn in my leg persisted, so I removed the sheets far enough to see what was wrong.

Where my leg had been, there was now a cybernetic replacement, joined to my organic body just below my knee. "Oh, kriff…" I mumbled, running my hand up and down the robotic limb. It was gold in color, some form of an alloy made up the skeleton, along with several small motors. The skin where it joined me was red and inflamed, not totally accepting this replacement just yet.

Master Secura followed the medical droid in. She looked as if she had been crying, too. When she saw my leg, her hands covered her mouth, and more tears brimmed.

"Your leg-" was all she could manage.

"Master, I was just about to administer more sedative, to keep his pain down. He will be a bit groggy for some time. You may speak with him when he is more focused," the droid said, preparing a syringe.

"Please-" she began, before being escorted out of the medbay by two nurses. The droid injected the syringe into my arm, and I drifted off once again.

**AN: Thanks for reading! I hope you enjoyed the second chapter of What Lies Beyond the Outer Rim! As usual, please leave me a comment; let me know what you thought.**

**I wanted to save putting in Elsa and Anna for later, but I just felt like throwing in the visions of what had happened three years before the movie. After all, the Clone Wars did last for three years. I originally had Rapunzel in this chapter too, but omitted her, which is part of the reason this chapter is shorter than I would've liked. I will try to get the next one out later tonight.**

**Thanks to everyone who has favorited or followed this story, it means a lot to me!**

**May the Force be with you all.**

**Coat-Rack96**


	3. The War's Over, Right?

**AN: Hey guys, it's me again. I'm sorry this chapter is late. But I hope you liked it. There will be some more action in the next one. And I realized that I never used the main character's name in the previous two, so, you figure it out in here.**

The next time I awoke, Master Secura was already by my bedside. Her eyes were red, but I could tell she was done crying. _Crying is for younglings and initiates,_ my master had told me once after I received a nasty burn from a training remote.

I sat up, then immediately went back down. My head pounded, and my vision blurred. "Master," I tried to say, but it came out as intelligible as a nerf.

"Just rest, Padawan. You've had a busy day."

"So-" I coughed, my ribs aching with every breath. "So have you."

She smiled. "Well, yes, but I didn't lose my leg, either. Or go down in flames over enemy territory."

_That's right,_ I thought. _The gunship crashed, those white knights- are they okay?_ "Are the soldiers who were with me okay?" I coughed again.

"The clones are okay, they're a couple beds over. Some bruises, a few cracked ribs, some minor burns, one broken wrist, but they're in better shape than you."

_Clones? Did she say clones?_ "Master, did you call them clones?"

"Yes, padawan. They're clones, cloned on Kamino, beyond the outer rim."

I was still confused. Where the hell had we gotten an entire army of clones on such short notice? How come none of the Jedi had known? And why does the Republic have an army? The Senate didn't even vote on the Creation Act yet.

All of these questions flooded through me, and I was about to ask them when Master Secura handed me a small metal cylinder.

It was silver, with a black handle, and slowly thinned out before getting wider at the top. Two dials and a single button were all that protruded from its smooth surface. I recognized it instantly. "Master, this is Master Keyy's lightsaber. Where did you get this?"

"We recovered it from the crash site. However, yours was lost."

I closed my hands around the weapon, now my only memory of my master. "Thank you, Master Secura."

She nodded. Her comlink beeped on her utility belt. She pulled it up. "Secura."

I couldn't hear what the person on the other end was saying, but it wasn't pleasant. Master Secura's face tightened. "Yes, commander, I'm on my way." She put the comlink back.

"Who was that?" I asked.

"I've been called to the forward command center to meet with some other masters to coordinate one last assault on the separatists."

I nodded. "May the Force be with you, Master."

"And with you, Padawan Grutar."

_How does she know my name?_ I thought as she walked out. _I don't think she's been paying that much attention to me at the Temple…_

I lay down for about an hour, waiting for the burning in my leg and ribs to go away. "Go bother some separatist," I muttered as the medical droid walked back to my cot.

"I'm so sorry to disappoint you sir, but I am a Republic medical droid. I will only operate on a separatist if it would aid the Republic."

I looked up to the droid. "What?"

"Your statement, sir, telling me to bother some separatist," the droid replied.

_Force, this droid's programmer must have been one sarcastic nerf herder,_ I thought. "Not you, I meant the pain." I gestured to my ribs and legs.

"That's what I'm here for, sir." The droid held out a small capsule. I took it and eyed it curiously. "It's only a painkiller, sir. It will dull the pain, while leaving you at full cognitive capacity. Enjoy."

"Oh, um… thanks." The droid began walking away. "What's your number?"

"I am a 2-1B medical droid, sir, but have been nicknamed 'the butcher' by the patients of this facility, and past ones."

"Well, then thanks, Butcher."

"You're very welcome, sir," the droid said before examining a patient two beds down from mine. My eyes went back to the capsule in my hand. It was about the size of a lightsaber crystal.

_What's in this thing, bantha tranquilizer?_ I thought as I swallowed it before I psyched myself out from its sheer size.

Ten minutes later, the pain in my body had subsided. I rolled out of my cot, hitting the plasteel floor hard. But luckily, the painkiller had worked a little _too_ well. I couldn't feel anything even close to hurt.

I hauled myself back up onto my wobbling legs. _Okay, you can do this,_ I thought as I slowly stood. My prosthetic stayed beneath me, some signals being sent into my nervous system through electrodes. "That's strange…" I whispered. It was like having a slightly numb limb.

I only had my shorts on, so I quickly pulled on my brown pants and my robe. _Time to take this thing for a walk_, I thought, stepping out gingerly with my prosthetic leg.

It hit the ground and held firm, a ball joint in the ankle socket gently rotating as I put all my weight on it and stepped forward with my right leg. I smiled for the first time in… _how long have I been in here?_

I stumbled my way over to the Butcher. "Where are the clones who were in the crash with me?"

"Oh, right this way, sir." He led me to a bed just down from mine. The occupant's right arm was in a cast, and he was sitting up in the bed. "CT-1142," the droid said, "meet Padawan Amara Grutar."

I bowed before the man. He had a gruff face, Caucasian skin, and short black hair. Identical to the man in the next bed over. And, I would guess, the rest of the clones.

"Commander, It's good to see you up and walking," the man said. "The sergeant will want to see you too. Thanks for bringing him by, Butcher, I can take it from here." The droid walked away as the man stood up. Even as young as I was, only 20 years old, I was taller than he was, but not by much. He led me to another bed, at the far end of the medbay.

"Glad to see you guys are in one piece," I said. "Thanks for pulling us out of the arena."

"It is our duty, sir." He replied, stoically staring in front as we walked.

"How long have we been in here?"

"Three days sir," still no expression on his face.

_Three days? I've been in here for three days and only just started walking around?_

We walked into a recreation room, where two clones sat playing a game of dejarik. One holographic monster moved across the board and crushed another. One clone sat back, happily. "Kriff!" the other swore.

"Sergeant Balko, this is Padawan Amara Grutar," the clone said to the scowling clone who had just lost. He looked up, stood up and saluted. "Sir, it's an honor to actually meet you."

I looked him up and down curiously. "Why are you saluting me? You don't have to salute me."

The clone's face instantly took on a look of confusion. I could sense it too, this didn't feel right to him. "Jedi are our commanders, sir. We follow you into the fight, and make sure you stay alive."

"We fight for the Republic, sir, and all those who live in Republic space."

"I was talking, Ket, you moron," Balko said to the other clone.

"Sorry, sir."

I sighed. Fighting a war with these two would be damn near impossible if they kept bickering like this. _And how long is this war going to take?_ I thought, hoping the answer wouldn't be long.

A voice came over the loudspeaker. "We have finished our assault in sector 4. The droids are in full retreat. Well done gentlemen! We will begin preparing to depart for Coruscant at 1300."

I smiled to the two. "That wasn't so bad, we just won this war in a matter of days, right?"

**I'll have the next chapter out soon. Thanks for reading, I hope you enjoyed it. Stay awesome, you guys.**

**May the Force be with you.**

**Coat-Rack96**


	4. Wrong

I gazed out of the viewport of the _Resilient_, the _Venator-_class Star Destroyer I used as my flagship. Below us, the city-world of Coruscant glowed with light from the city's skyscrapers. But the Coruscanti were not the only ones treating us to a light show.

All around us, flashes of light illuminated the upper atmosphere. Blue and red bolts streaked through the sky until they struck a cruiser, exploding in shades of yellow and orange. Two vulture droids buzzed past the tower. A small squadron of ARC-170's followed, their cannons spitting green light until the droids exploded. The bridge shook slightly.

Cruisers stretched as far as the eye could see, all pounding each other into a fiery submission. The CIS had launched a surprise attack on Coruscant and kidnapped the Supreme Chancellor. However, what had been a carefully orchestrated strike had quickly turned into an absolute shitstorm over the capital. A lone Trade Federation Cruiser was trying to escape, and, oddly enough, wasn't suffering any damage. I smiled. _That's where they have him_, I thought. I felt an anxious presence coming toward me. I didn't actually sense the person, just his emotions. Oh, the perks of being a Nautolan. I turned around.

Admiral Harken was speed walking toward me. He saluted briefly. "General Grutar, I have a transmission from General Kenobi. He says it's urgent." He did a quick about-face and retreated to the rear of the bridge, where a hologram of the Negotiator was waiting. I followed, my dark brown robe flowing behind me. I bowed.

"Master Kenobi."

"Knight Grutar," he replied. "Anakin and I are-"

"Excuse my interruption, Master," I started. "I have located the Chancellor; he's on General Grievous' flagship. I can punch a hole straight to him."

The master nodded. "Very good, Amara. Anakin and I won't be far behind. We'll infiltrate Grievous' ship and rescue the Chancellor. Kenobi out."

It wasn't much of a plan, but it was something. I turned to Harken. "Engines to full power, take us in closer. We're getting Kenobi and Skywalker to that ship." He nodded and relayed my orders. I strode to the viewport.

A Banking Clan comm ship was almost directly starboard of us. The starboard turbolaser cannons fired, smashing into the ship with a brutal force. The cannons along the starboard side of the ship fired, punching holes straight into the hull. Red lasers impacted the _Resilient_, but were absorbed by the shields. "Target the bridge!" Harken shouted.

The dual-turbolaser cannons swiveled, still unloading into the ship. The bridge erupted in a giant fireball, and the cruiser banked hard to the left, out of control. There were several cheers from the clones, but were drowned out as we pulled above another comm ship.

_This is Kenobi. We're on your tail,_ a voice crackled through my comlink. _That cruiser will tear us apart._

"I hear you, Master," I said into my comlink. "Admiral! Finish that ship off now!"

A blue beam shot from the underbelly of the _Resilient_, tearing the comm ship in half. A section of it flew up, colliding into us.

A klaxon blared. "The hull has been breached!" a voice sounded over the intercom.

_Kriff,_ I thought as I rushed to the holoprojector at the back with Harken. "Get me a sitrep, now!" He shouted into the comm.

_Starboard decks one through four damaged,_ a voice crackled over. _Unknown casualties, a hazard team is already working on the fires. Several B1's were in whatever hit us, but they're out of commission._

I glanced up to Harken. "How'd that get through our shields?" I shouted.

"No idea, General."

I sighed. "Fine. Keep us updated on the status of the fires," I said into the comm.

_Yes sir,_ the clone's voice said. Harken terminated the call. I began to turn back to the viewport when the holoprojector beeped.

"Another one, sir. Priority, from General Windu," Harken called.

_Oh kriff, Windu,_ I thought, almost panicking. _Why in the galaxy would he want to talk to me?_ I had barely talked to Master Windu, even after Geonosis, and it was usually for a new assignment, another siege. What did he want this time? "Put him through." Harken nodded and pressed a button on the side. A blue display of the Jedi Master dominated the holo. His robes were scorched and torn from fighting droids in the streets of Coruscant when the CIS had invaded.

"Master Windu," I bowed.

"Knight Grutar," He returned the bow, stunning me. _Why is he bowing back to me?_ My brain was instantly scrambled by his greeting.

"We have received word that Master Kenobi and Skywalker have infiltrated General Grievous's flagship on your intelligence. Your mission to escort them to the _Invisible Hand_ has been changed, however. I'm afraid you have new orders."

"Of course, Master," I said. I did NOT want to get on this guy's bad side.

"Clone intelligence has revealed that Wat Tambor may be commanding another Trade Federation cruiser. The _Resilient_ is being ordered to pursue Tambor and capture or kill him. We're sending you the ship's coordinates."

I nodded. "I understand, Master, but what is a Techno Union Forman doing on a Federation ship?"

"That is unknown, however, it is crucial to ending this war as quickly as possible that we capture him alive."

"Yes Master. I'll report back when I have him."

"May the Force be with you. Windu out." He ended the transmission.

I turned to Harken. "Get all of our pilots to their fighters." I started walking to the ship's pilots. Another thought hit me. "And could you get Captain Denos up here?"

"Right away," he said, turning back to the holo. "All pilots to your stations-"

To the pilots, "General Windu has transmitted us the location of a Sep ship that Wat Tambor is suspected to be on. Plug these coordinates in, and do your best to make sure it's the Seps getting blown out of the sky, and not us."

The pilots grinned and nodded. "Yes sir!"

The ship began turning to the right, revealing even more chaos of the battle. The starboard tower of another _Venator_ was alight with flames, and the ship was beginning to drop into Coruscant's upper atmosphere, but a Trade Federation battleship kept pounding it. Another _Venator_ was firing all it had into the underbelly of the ring-shaped behemoth. Fighters swarmed around both ships, exploding into balls of flame seemingly at random. Finally, the battleship exploded in a flash of blinding light, briefly painting the dull gray interior of the _Resilient_ a bright white. I didn't see it. The girls in my visions three years ago had returned.

_The redhead was dangling off a cliff from a rope with a bulky blonde man. A giant snow… rancor, almost, was pulling them effortlessly back up. The once green landscape was now covered in snow, almost like Illum or Hoth. Trees were weighed down by the heavy load that looked wierldly out-of place. The rancor hauled the two until they were hanging directly in front of his gigantic face. _Please don't eat them_, I thought. The rancor roared, showering the pair with snow, until the redhead cut the rope with the knife and plummeted to the bottom._

The pilots were shaking me. Almost everyone was shouting my name. I took in my surroundings. Still on the bridge? Yes. Down in the pilot's bays, apparently. I pushed myself off the ground.

"I'm okay," I said, still a little discombobulated. A clone with navy blue armor, two shoulder pauldrons, and enough ammo pouches to supply an entire battalion, and a black kama dangling from his waist stood by me, his helmet on the ground, forgotten. "Captain, good to see you, but what are you doing up here?"

The clone looked surprised. "I was told to report to you, sir." Confusion was etched into his features, along with countless scars.

"I did?" I asked. To be honest, the vision was what had my full attention, not the cruisers around us. "Oh, kriff, that's right. Walk with me." Denos scooped up his helmet and held it under his arm. A clone had been running toward me with a trauma kit. I waved him away. I started to the back of the bridge. "We have received intel that Wat Tambor is in the battle, on a Federation cruiser. We're going to disable the ship, you and your ARC troopers and I are going to board it. We get in, we get Tambor, we get out. Clean and simple, but be ready for a firefight. The Nemoidians on board are cowards, so they won't put up much of a fight."

Denos nodded. "What kind of resistance, droid-wise?"

"The usual, probably. But it wouldn't hurt to be ready for more, just because this IS a Techno Union Foreman we're trying to snatch."

"Yes sir." The clone pressed his hand to his dark blue gauntlet. "Deadmeat, get the squad to the gunship. We're getting some action."

We stopped at the turbolift. Denos pressed the button to call the lift. "I'll see you in the hangar; we'll get more of the plan worked out."

"Yes sir," the clone said again and nodded. The lift doors hissed open. He stepped in and pressed the button to the hangar. The doors hissed shut and I turned back to the front of the bridge. A squad of vulture droids streaked by trailing two flaming V-19 Torrent starfighters. The torrents exploded just to the right of the tower, sending flaming debris hurtling toward the bridge.

"Brace," Harken shouted as the turbolasers destroyed the vultures. The scorched metal from the torrents and vultures deflected off the shields.

Everyone on the bridge breathed a collective sigh as the debris drifted away. The flames dispersed, revealing a lone Trade Federation cruiser battering a _Venator_.

"That's it, that's our ship!" a voice called out.

"Lock onto it, now!" Harken shouted. The 8 ventral turbolaser cannons swiveled to target the cruiser. The other _Venator_'s left bridge exploded.

_Oh Kriff, there goes our backup_, I thought, aghast as I watched the destroyer begin to plummet through Coruscant's atmosphere.

Harken's eyes drifted to me, the surprise in his face was evident. I gave him a small nod. "Fire," he radioed to the gunners.

Gigantic blue bolts tore through the empty space between our two cruisers. _Their shields are still up,_ the gunners called back to the bridge. "Keep firing!" Harken shouted. Soon the space between us was filled entirely with flashes of blue.

The Federation cruiser slowly began to turn away from us. Its engines flared to a bright blue as it disappeared into hyperspace.

_Well, I'm foshed,_ I thought staring at the now empty space where the ship had been only a moment before.

The bridge was dead silent. All of the clones and officers stared openmouthed at our turbolasers pouring into space. "General!" One of the pilots yelled, breaking the silence and causing me to jump. "We're still tracking the ship's location, and have the coordinates for their destination!"

I whirled around, several of my tendrils reaching around and slapping me on the face. "But that's impossible," I protested, convinced the ship was lost. "How do we have the ship's location AND destination?"

"Unknown sir," he said, glancing back down to his display. "It's almost as if they were… transmitted to us."

"Well, what are you waiting for? Follow them!" Harken called to the pilots.

"Right away," they said, and punched commands into their consoles. The turbolasers stopped firing.

The hyperdrive began to hum as the stars stretched into infinitely long lines. The ship lurched forward and we blasted after the Seperatists.

"It may be a trap," Harken finally realized, turning to me.

I looked back to the admiral. "It is almost certainly a trap."

**AN: Sorry about the long wait for this! School started and I've been really busy. I hope you enjoyed this chapter of What Lies Beyond the Outer Rim. Please leave a review (constructive criticism goes a long way), and I'll see you in the next chapter. May the Force be with you all!**

**Coat-Rack96**

**PS I'll have the next chapter of This Swirling Storm Inside up soon.**


	5. Falling Skies

I strode through the hangar of the _Resilient_, my brown robe flowing behind me. Pilots lounged near their ships, and operators loaded torpedoes into the fighters. Fuel lines crisscrossed all over the floor. Blue shields stood between several of the fighter bays and the main part of the hangar. I turned to my right and walked into one. Several clones in navy blue armor, pauldrons, and ammo pouches stood next to an LAAT with an astromech droid. A nexu's toothy smile was painted on the front of the gunship, as well as a scantily dressed Twi'lek straddling a torpedo. The droid was projecting a hologram of the cruiser we were pursuing through deep space. Captain Denos was briefing the troops.

"-will from there infiltrate the bridge. There, we capture or kill Tambor. Any questions?"

A clone spoke up. "What kind of resistance are we looking at, droid-wise?" This one's armor was almost entirely white, save for his helmet, thighs, abdomen, and forearms.

"I believe General Grutar can answer that one, Torch." Denos looked up to me, and the rest of the clones turned to face me.

"I'd say that we're looking at bolstered defenses, since Tambor is the Forman of the Techno Union. But Master Kenobi and Skywalker infiltrated _Invisible Hand_ on their own. So this should be a walk in the park for us." I explained. Torch nodded.

_I sure hope I'm right. With what happened on the bridge, we could be walking into an army of droidekas._ I thought grimly.

"Well if two Jedi could infiltrate _Invisible Hand_ on their own, what do they need us for?" Another clone asked, chuckling. "We could just send in General Grutar and call it good. A whole ARC team? That's overkill, and a gross misallocation of the Grand Army's resources." This clone was entirely blue except for the tubes on the side of his helmet, his forearms, and his shins. A light blue stripe ran around his arms, identifying him as an ARC Lieutenant.

"Isn't it a little dangerous to use your entire vocabulary in a single sentence, Deadmeat?" Torch asked. The entire team laughed at this one, even Deadmeat.

"So the _Resilient's _crippling the cruiser, we're inserting via LAAT and fighter escort led by General Grutar, blasting anything that gets in our way, capturing Tambor, and getting the kriff off of that ship while the _Resilient_ blasts it to oblivion. Any more questions?" Denos asked.

A chorus of "No sir's rang out from the team. "Very good," Denos said. "Dismissed."

**Three hours later. Still in hyperspace in pursuit of the Trade Federation cruiser.**

_The redhead and the man she'd been with rode across the snowy land just as the planet's sun began to rise over the horizon. Her hair was now almost entirely white, and she looked like she was on the balance of life and death. Their steed pushed itself harder and harder, its horned head bobbing forward with each step. A small… thing… was gliding across the snow on its stomach alongside them._

_The blonde was under attack. Two men had her cornered in a fortress made of ice. One was now held up against a wall by icy spikes. The other was about to be pushed off a balcony by a wall of ice. Her face was a mask of fury. She almost emanated with the Dark Side. A redheaded man and a small group of soldiers ran in. The blonde ceased pushing the wall off of the balcony and slowly turned around, her mask changing slowly from rage to horror at what she'd done. The man on the wall slowly aimed what looked like a Wookiee's bowcaster at the young woman. The redheaded man jerked his arm upward as he fired. The chandelier dangling from the ceiling plummeted toward the woman, who scrambled to get out of the way._

I slowly opened my eyes. _I can't keep having these visions, not right now. If one of those happens in the middle of this operation then I'm kriffed._

I was sitting in the cockpit of my starfighter. It was a stripped-down Eta-2 _Actis _-class interceptor. I had painted the wings along the side orange, along with the canopy. The stock blue-and-white just didn't suit me, and it allowed me to be more easily identified by allies in the middle of a battle.

_At least, that's what I told the Council_, I thought, running my hand along the orange metal of the canopy.

Sparks shot out from behind the canopy, accompanied by the smell of ozone and scorched metal. I could hear faint crackling. "Everything okay back there Kaytoo?" I called back.

Looking good boss, I've bypassed the negative power coupling and am almost finished. Came a series of beeps and chirps from behind the ship. After a several more seconds, the sparks stopped.

All set, boss. The thrusters should be pushing out about 1700 kph in atmosphere. An astromech droid rolled out from behind the ship, tucking its fusion cutter into its purple body.

"Thanks, Kaytoo." I sat back in my seat, resting my feet near the nose. "And you're sure you don't need me to double-check this for you? Especially after what happened at Belsavis?"

The astromech retracted its third leg and stood up straight. It let out an offended chirp.

"No, that one was all on you. I said to replace the capacitor, not try to fix it."

The droid merely shook its duraplast dome. R2-K2 had gotten his durasteel dome replaced after it suffered irreparable damage over Muunilist and a replacement couldn't be found. So he was confined to an R3 unit's transparent dome until a replacement was found. But I had kept the droid's clear dome on just in case something in the area started malfunctioning, and needed to see what it was without pulling his head off.

"General Grutar, sir." A clone tech walked up to my interceptor and saluted. "Permission to dock this droid in your fighter's astromech slot?" he almost shouted.

"Granted," I muttered, my thoughts returning to the two girls. _No visions, nothing, not even a whisper in the Force. For three years. And now they're back. Why?_ I closed my eyes as the clone hooked Kaytoo up to a machine to lower him into the interceptor.

I stretched out with my feelings and let go of my physical self. I reached out through the Force, felt its energy course through my body and around it. I sensed the Force around the clone tech, and around every sentient being on the _Resilient_. I let my mind go blank, instead focusing on the energy that swirled through the beings on the ship. The energy rushed into my mind.

_The blonde collapsed, a raging blizzard coming to a halt as she hit the ice-covered ground beneath her. The red-haired man unsheathed his sword and swung downward in a one-handed overhead strike, intending to kill the helpless girl. The redheaded girl, whose hair was now entirely white, ran in front of the man sticking out her arm in front of her to deflect the sword. Suddenly, her entire body froze._

_NO!_

I opened my eyes suddenly. My chest heaved. This vision had been…different… than the rest. It felt as if it hadn't happened yet, while with the others I had felt like I was looking into the very near past, or the present at the latest. I looked around. Several crates were gently floating back down to the floor of the hangar. Kaytoo looked up at me from the astromech slot and gave a small whine.

What was it? he asked.

"Just a vision," I said my chest heaving. "I saw the future."

Master Yoda's voice echoed through my head. _Always in motion, the future is,_ he had said when I told him of the visions I'd had at Geonosis.

The _Resilient_'s hyperdrive coughed. Even from the hangar we could hear it. All activity froze, and the hangar went dead silent. The hyperdrive coughed again, and this time, was followed by a piercing whine.

_All pilots perform final check._ I signaled an "Ok" with my fingers to the clones. I sat back and ran the harness around my shoulders and fastened it in front of my chest. I put on my earpiece.

Clones dashed away from the fighters as they began to fire up. "Kaytoo, fire us up." I said.

The interceptor's twin ion engines roared to life. The display to my left lit up, as did several throughout the cockpit. The weapons systems reported green, and thruster output was at maximum. I sighed in relief.

"This is Blue Leader, all wings report in."

_Blue 2, standing by_

_Blue 3, standing by_

_Blue 4, standing by_

_Blue 5, standing by_

The rest of Blue Squadron, the fighter escort for this mission, checked in.

The hyperdrive coughed one last time. _Cutting to sublight engines. All fighters, prepare for takeoff._

The canopy of my starfighter began to descend with a hiss. _Here we go,_ I thought.

The _Resilient_ suddenly lurched, dropping out of hyperspace. A voice crackled through my comm. _This is Harken. Blue Squadron provide cover for the landing party. Red and Gold, engage all hostiles and keep the fighters off of us while we take out the cruisers. For the Republic!_

_Cruisers? What cruisers?_ I thought as the ventral bay doors slowly began to open.

_Blue squadron, launch!_ Came the voice of the fighter controller. I pulled my interceptor up and retracted the landing gear. We slowly moved through the shields that separated us from the main hangar. The ARC-170's all flowed in. "This is Blue Leader, launching," I said into my comm. I pushed the throttle forward and shot through the hangar and into space. Flashes of blue and red once again illuminated the sky as the _Resilient's_ turbolasers returned fire at the Separatists.

The Trade Federation Cruiser was flanked by three Banking Clan Comm ships. A planet covered in blue water and white clouds hovered peacefully "below" the Separatist trap. _This is where the fun begins,_ Blue five said.

"All fighters, lock S-foils in attack positions," I ordered. Blue Squadron opened up their wings.

We streaked toward the cruiser. Kaytoo beeped, but it was lost in the silence of space. His message came up on my display.

Fighters dead ahead.

"Blue Leader to Blue Squadron. We have incoming hostile fighters. Keep the landing party covered."

Vulture droids and tri-fighters blasted towards us. "Permission to engage but stay on target." Streaks of red flashed all around us as the droids opened fire. I squeezed the trigger and green bursts flew from the cannons, colliding with a tri-fighter in a dazzling display of orange. Red and Gold Squadrons formed up behind us, opening fire on the swarming droids. An ARC burst into flames and spun out of control just to my right. The clone's screams echoed through my comm.

Our squad finally reached the droids, and chaos ensued. Ships exploded all around us, and it was suddenly every man for himself. I yanked my controls to the right, spinning and diving down to avoid hitting a Vulture head on. It exploded just behind me, and an ARC flew through the flames, its cannons still firing nonstop.

_You've got one on your tail!_ one of the Blues shouted into his comm, and all at once, every pilot looked back behind him to see if he had drawn the short straw. I reached out with the Force, and felt the presence of a droid on my 6.

Missiles locked and launched! Kaytoo screeched from his socket.

"Alright Kaytoo, time for some fancy flying," I grinned. I gunned my engines straight forward, toward the Federation cruiser. The missiles were still gaining. "Hang on." I rolled left, then right down the length of the enormous cruiser. Flak exploded all around me as I spun almost drunkenly down the ship. I banked right around the engines, pulling my S-foils back in and diving in the tiny space between the hull and the engines. The interceptor had no shields, so I could feel the heat through the belly of the fighter. I shot through, expecting for the missiles to collide into the engines.

_Kriff_, I thought as I looked back to find them still chasing me. "Well, there's always Plan B." I gunned my fighter down the left side of the ship, rolling and banking to evade turret fire. I yelped and pulled up to avoid hitting another Vulture coming out of the hangar. The missiles collided with the unlucky droid, blowing it into smithereens.

I breathed a sigh of brief relief and put myself back into the thick of the battle. A scratchy voice came through my comm. _This is Denos. We've infiltrated the cruiser and are engaging on the inside._

"This is Blue Leader, preparing to enter the cruiser." I pulled up and spun, realigning myself with the cruiser and heading straight for the hangar. "Kaytoo, put everything you have into the thrusters." The thrusters whined as the interceptor streaked to the cruiser.

_Blue Leader, you've got one on your-_ Blue Five shouted into his comm, but was cut off by a small explosion. My interceptor shook briefly. "We're hit!" I yelled. Smoke poured from the left thruster as we hurtled toward the hangar. "I have a bad feeling about this!" I yelled to Kaytoo. We flew through the shields unhindered and into the hangar.

I scraped off the ground briefly before colliding into a walking vulture droid, cutting off its legs. _Better get out before this gets any worse,_ I thought as the droid collapsed to the floor. I cut through my harness and the canopy shot open. I leapt from the cockpit and ignited my lightsaber, the green blade springing to life. I flipped in the air and stabbed my saber into another vulture, dragging the blade through as I arced over it. I landed softly and twirled my saber, bringing it up into the "Jedi ready" position.

"Most impressive sir!" Deadmeat yelled across the hangar, where the ARC team was ducked behind several crates. Three droidekas had them pinned down. "A little help?" He shouted. Calling on the Force, I sprinted over to their position, ducking behind a crate next to Deadmeat.

"Cover me," I said. He nodded to Torch. Torch sprang up and leveled his gatling laser at the droids. A seemingly endless stream of blue burst from his gun and swept across the droidekas' shields. I stood up, calling on the Force again, picked up several crates and debris from the vultures, and hurled them at the droidekas, smashing them.

The clones all stood from behind their cover. "Shall we crack on?" I asked Denos. He nodded to the rest of the team. A beep came from behind us.

What about me? Kaytoo chirped.

"Stay with the ship. And try to see if there's anything you can do about that thruster." Carbon scoring s

Kaytoo rolled away, beeping what would be the equivalent of grumbling.

I lifted my comlink. "Harken this is Grutar. The landing party has infiltrated and is moving to the bridge. Over." I said, walking over to the massive shield doors facing the _Resilient_. The Venator was giving the Seps everything it had. One of the Banking Clan ships's bridges ignited in a gigantic fireball as the turbolasers took down the ship's shields. A brilliant display of explosions flared up along the _Resilient's_ hull.

_This is Harken. We're taking a beating, but we're holding. Targeting the ship's engines. Don't know if we'll be able to hold out for much longer. Over._

"Copy that, we'll make this quick. Grutar out."

**Trade Federation Cruiser, several minutes later.**

"Security's a bit thin," a clone named Ramsa muttered. His armor had a single white stripe running around the thigh and calf, and down his arms. He carried a gatling laser.

"Copy that," Doc, the team's medic said. He had a white chest and back plate, but everything else was blue. "It's almost too quiet."

"Lock it up," Denos barked as we rounded a corner in the corridor. The clones all raised their blasters, expecting resistance. Still nothing. "I don't like this," he said, looking behind us.

"I'm pretty sure something's wrong but I don't sense anything," I said. Suddenly, I felt a brief murmur in the Force, as if it was telling me something big was about to happen. "Brace!" I shouted, and threw myself into the wall. The ship shuddered as something struck it. Half of the team fell to the deck. Klaxon alarms blared.

"Looks like Harken made good on his promise," Denos said, helping Ramsa back to his feet. "Let's keep moving, but stay sharp."

We moved further down the corridor, where a very surprised B1 stepped out of an adjoining corridor. The clones opened fire, leaving the hapless droid in pieces. "Finally, some action," Deadmeat muttered, kicking aside a now useless and smoking arm.

We reached the end of the corridor, only to be blocked by a locked set of blast doors. "Stand aside," Torch said, pushing Doc and Ramsa out of the way. He pulled out a charge and began to set the timer. I chuckled and pulled out my lightsaber. "Now you stand aside," I said to him as the green blade sprang to life. The familiar hum filled the room.

I shoved the blade into the thick durasteel doors until the blade was buried to the hilt. The door glowed orange under the heat of the blade, and molten metal began to run down to the floor. I slowly pushed the lightsaber in a circle around the door, melting my way through the thick metal, rather than cutting. Heat radiated from the melting doors and I thought my hands were going to burst into flames.

Finally, I finished cutting through the door, and pushed the cut-out section into the next hallway with the Force. The thick chunk of metal fell to the floor with a clang. We climbed through one by one, with me leading the way, lightsaber still in hand. Denos came next, followed by Doc, Torch, Ramsa, Ket, Balko (who had been promoted since Geonosis and was now a lieutenant on the ARC team), and two others: Talon and Nero. Deadmeat stood at the other side, pulling himself through while covering our rear.

The doors to the bridge were directly in front of us, down a long corridor lined with escape pods. Deadmeat's head poked out the hole in the blast doors, his blaster still pointing down the other corridor. All of a sudden the doors at the end opened up, and Wat Tambor rushed out, stopping briefly to stare at us. Two magnaguards flanked him, staffs at the ready. For a moment we stood at our opposite ends of the corridor, staring at each other. "Now!" Tambor shouted, his voice amplified by his cybernetics.

"Hostiles, my 12!" Deadmeat shouted as he started firing through the hole and into a rapidly advancing wall of super battle droids. Talon and Nero reached in and pulled him through, several blaster bolts narrowly missing them. I sprinted to Tambor, who ducked into the nearest escape pod with his guards. The airlock hissed shut, and the pod blasted down to the planet below. More super battle droids swarmed in from the bridge, firing at the clones. The team ran to the walls, trying to find cover wherever they could. I activated my lightsaber and sliced through the nearest super, its torso falling one way and legs the other, and quickly hurled the parts at two other droids using the Force. I stabbed through one and pulled my blade out, spinning and cleaving through another droid. The clones' blasters cut down the rest, Torch and Ramsa's gatling lasers tore the droids to pieces.

Ramsa ran back to the blast doors, sliding up against the wall next to the hole. He pulled out a thermal detonator. "Fire in the hole!" He shouted, and tossed it through.

Several tense seconds passed as I deflected blaster fire back through the hole. "Did you forget to activate it again you idiot?" Balko shouted. A moment later, the detonator exploded, taking out the remaining supers.

"Harken, an escape pod was jettisoned with Tambor aboard. Track its descent, we'll get him on the surface. Grutar out." I said into my comm.

We rushed into the bridge, my lightsaber humming in my hands and the clones' blasters raised. "Nobody move!" Denos shouted. A single Nemoidian officer reached for his blaster. "Don't do it!" Denos shouted again. The Nemoidian whipped the blaster out of its holster and opened fire. The rest of the officers followed suit, along with the few security B1 battle droids that remained. Talon groaned as a bolt grazed his arm. I threw my saber around the room, guiding it with the Force as it sliced through the droids. The clones shot the remaining officers.

My lightsaber smacked into my hand and I deactivated it and hung it from my belt. The clones fanned out across the bridge and checked the vital signs of the Nemoidians. All dead.

The cruiser suddenly jerked again, this time without any warning from the Force. We all stumbled forward, colliding into the control panels, the viewports, anything. More alarms began to blare, and lights flashed red all over the bridge's controls. "Shields down," Ramsa reported.

"Engines failing," Ket said.

"Unable to remain in orbit," Nero said from his station.

An explosion rocked the ship. "No signal from the main engines," Ket reported again.

"Life support at critical," Deadmeat read.

"Escape pods disabled," Came Ramsa's voice.

_Kriff, we're going to have to crash this thing._

"Kaytoo, get out of here!" I yelled into my comlink.

You got it boss," came the astromech's beeped reply.

The cruiser began to fall through the atmosphere, lighting up the view outside of the viewport a fiery orange. I hauled myself to the nearest pilot's chair and strapped myself down. "Strap yourselves in! We're landing this bucket of bolts!" I shouted. The clones pulled themselves toward the nearest seat. I grabbed the controls in front of me.

"Can you fly this thing?" Denos shouted.

"This isn't flying! This is a crash-landing!" I shouted back.

"Can you crash-land this thing?" The captain replied.

"We're about to find out!"

I turned to Ramsa, who was in the seat next to mine. "Grab that! Try to keep us level," I said, pointing to a control stick. He wrapped his hand around it and looked at a display next to him, trying to level out our descent.

Another explosion echoed through the ship. "this thing isn't working!" Ramsa shouted.

_Great,_ I thought. I reached out with the Force and tried to steady the doomed ship myself, but couldn't concentrate on the controls.

We were now a raging fireball. A thick layer of clouds came up towards us, obscuring our view of what lay below. For a brief moment we were immersed in white, then we saw what awaited us.

Jagged mountains covered in snow dotted the landscape. Several kilometers away, a thick cloud swirled unnaturally, and eerily close to the ground. A gigantic pillar of rock loomed in our path, dwarfing the rest of the surrounding mountains. "Brace yourselves!" I shouted as the bottom of the cruiser struck the mountain, sending a shower of rock cascading down its slopes. "I can't control her!"

The controls were useless. The swirling cloud came closer and closer as our flaming wreck hurled through the sky. We entered the cloud, only to be blinded by the raging blizzard. "Brace!" I shouted again, not knowing what was beneath us. I reached out with the Force. This blizzard felt unnatural, as if something Force sensitive were controlling it. _The girl…_ I immediately thought. All of a sudden the ship crashed, almost vertically, into a layer of ice. The clones and I were torn out of our restraints and thrown forward. I hit the viewport hard, cracking it.

Through the raging blizzard I could feel several beings unknowingly calling out through the Force. They were close.

Very close.

**AN: Sorry it took so long to publish this! I hope you guys enjoyed it, and I'll have the next chapter out as soon as possible. I had a hard time writing the combat in this chapter, both in space and on the cruiser, so any suggestions and constructive criticism is very welcome. I appreciate the support I've been getting on both of my fics. Please feel free to leave a review as well. May the Force be with you all!**

**Coat-Rack96**


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